Find Me
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: "I want to play a game with you. It's simple, really. We're all in the same building; just an old factory building. All you have to do is find me before everyone else is dead. I'll be killing everyone, one at a time, every half-hour. And there are...Quite a few people, so that's going to be quite a bit of blood being shed before everyone is completely dead."
1. Game Start

**Author note: I do not own Yakitate! Japan. Or Kawachi. Or Shadow, or any of the other characters...**

**This takes place post-Monaco Cup, but before any of the other arcs after that can happen, so technically it's an AU fic. I might not work as much on this fic as the other Yakitate! Japan multi-chapter fics (such as 'Reflections' and 'Yakitate! Cosplay?', but we'll see how long it takes for me to update...**

**Warnings: AU, violence (lots of it), character death (LOTS of it), and pairings (most of them being just implied, though) **

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope you guys read, review and enjoy! Thanks!**

* * *

_**Find Me**_

* * *

**_1. Game Start_**

Kawachi Kyosuke woke up in a room. Everywhere he looked, the place was completely barren, with no windows or furniture, save for a flickering lightbulb hanging overhead and a blackened TV screen on the wall to his left.

"Where the heck am I!?" He exclaimed, getting up and looking around. All he remembered before ending up here was partying with everyone in celebration of Team Japan's win in the Monaco Cup, and then-

_I got knocked out. Right. _

The last few moments before he was knocked unconscious were blurry ones, but Kawachi knew what happened. Tables were overturned as people were sent away screaming, with hooded people grabbing his friends and him and putting a terrible-smelling cloth to their mouths and noses...

Before Kawachi could continue his train of thought, it was interrupted by a familiar voice from the TV screen.

_"So, you're finally awake. You're really a sound sleeper, aren't you?" _

Kawachi turned, staring at the TV screen. The scene it showed was a tad blurry, but it eventually cleared to reveal a person standing in the midst of familiar people Kawachi knew, all of them tied up with rope or put in cages. A man with silver hair from the team Japan faced against in the finals stared at Kawachi on the screen, a cruel grin upon his face. Kawachi looked more carefully, and knew immediately who it was from seeing that the man had no pupils.

"Shadow White." Kawachi uttered quietly. Shadow White, the best out of the three on the American team during the Monaco Cup, an expert at mimicking almost anything completely darn well, the loser of the match against Azuma in the finals. "What do you want!?"

"What else do you think I want? To be number one in the world, of course." Shadow responded, the smile still remaining on his face. "There are other ways to be number one rather than just beating the best. I plan on getting rid of the one who beat me in the Monaco Cup."

"If that's the case, why did you bother to go and capture me and everyone else!? What's your game?" Kawachi responded, glaring at Shadow as his hands balled into fists. "What are you going to do with us?"

"Well," Shadow started, crossing his arms. "I want to play a game with you. It's simple, really. We're all in the same building; just an old factory building. All you have to do is find me before everyone else is dead. I'll be killing everyone, one at a time, every half-hour. And there are...Quite a few people, so that's going to be quite a bit of blood being shed before everyone is completely dead." He let out a chuckle as he continued. "Of course, I'll let you live, but to be honest, I challenged someone else to find me about an hour ago, minus me killing everyone else." His grin turned to a smirk as he finished. "I'm not going to let _him_ live. That's something I can tell you."

Before Kawachi could respond, the door to the room opened and in stepped Yuiichi Kirisaki, owner of St. Pierre and father of Meister Sylvan Kirisaki and Sophie Balzac Kirisaki.

Before anyone else could do a thing, Shadow pulled out a revolver from his pants pocket and pointed it at the Kirisaki, before shooting him in the head. Some of the other people in the room let out a few screams as Yuiichi fell to the floor, Shadow still pointing the gun at him before shooting once more.

Sobbing immediately echoed from Meister Kirisaki, who was in the back right corner of the room and caged as he tried to reach out towards his father with one arm. Sophie Kirisaki, however, didn't seem to show much emotion, but she did seem a little shocked at the sudden kill.

Blood pooled the floor, and Shadow gave a glare towards the fallen man. "This is for throwing me away, after you thought of me being a useless nobody when I lost against Azuma..." He trailed off, before putting the gun back in his pocket and turning back towards Kawachi. "Oh, I forgot a few things. I'll be giving _you _the choice to kill which one out of two people I put up as candidates for death. Whichever one you choose will die. For example, if I put up either Azuma or his little genius friend Kanmuri up as candidates, and you chose Kanmuri to die, he would die."

"This is _sick_!" Kawachi shouted at the screen. "You're seriously going to kill them!?"

"Well, there's some people that you hate or are rivals of yours. I don't think you would mind _them _getting killed," Shadow retorted, gesturing to Suwabara, Shachihoko, and Yukino. "And a half-hour is quite a bit of time if you use it wisely. If you're really lucky, you'll be able to find me before anyone else gets killed. If you're not..." Shadow appeared to give an even more insane grin. "Everyone you've ever known will be gone, all because of you."

The insane silver-haired man's eyes rolled forward as he spoke one more line.

_"Good luck."_

The door of the room where Kawachi was in opened with a creak, just as the screen went blank.

* * *

**Alive: Meister Kirisaki, Yukino Azusagawa, Tsukino Azusagawa, Sophie Kirisaki, Kai Suwabara, Monica Adenauer, Shachihoko, Ken Matsushiro, Azuma Kazuma, Ryou Kuroyanagi, Shigeru Kanmuri,**

**Dead: Yuiichi Kirisaki**


	2. 160

**_2. 160_**

As soon as the door opened, Kawachi immediately wasted no time running out of the room. Looking around the hallway, he knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

_What the heck!? There's doors and arrow-shaped signs everywhere! This is just great..._

Looking a bit closer at one of the arrow signs, he noticed that it had the number '1' on it.

_One, huh? All of the arrow signs have numbers, but they only go up to thirty...The doors have numbers different from them, and they're in the hundreds up to...Two hundred, I think. Maybe I'm meant to put an arrow on each door after I'm done checking the room behind it? Or maybe it's just to confuse me..._

* * *

"I can't believe that...That..." Meister trailed off as he wiped away the last of his tears with his sleeve, still staring at the dead corpse of his father. He looked up at Shadow, glaring at him (though Shadow couldn't see it behind the mask, anyway). "You dared to..."

"Brother, don't you think he did us a favour?" Meister turned to face Sophie, who was tied up and placed beside his cage. "He killed that demon."

"Sophie..." Meister paused before continuing, in shock towards his sister's remark. "You don't know-"

"I don't know _what!?"_ Sophie interrupted, continuing. "That Father abandoned us when Mom got pregnant with me? That he came back only to eat bread in front of us instead of deciding to take care of us? That he left us with the intention of us starving to _death_!?"

"You don't know how much Father loved us!" Meister yelled back, his voice cracking slightly. His hands gripped the iron bars and he rattled them slightly as he continued. "He cared for us! All I remember is that something went wrong before Mother even got pregnant with you! He changed, Sophie, and you don't know the man he was before, the real him he was before!"

Before either one of them could continue, Kuroyanagi immediately butted in.

"Sophie. Please..." Kuroyanagi trailed off. "Just..don't talk about it. It's not going to make this situation any better right now."

Both the brother and sister went silent after that, looking away from each other.

* * *

"What the heck..." Kawachi trailed off, still staring at the signs. He touched sign 1 and realized it was paper. Not only that, but he was sure he felt a small object behind it. Pulling the sign away and hearing the tape formerly holding the paper against the wall get pulled away as well, he saw a small metal object, glinting in the light of the hallway.

It was a key. And on it was the number 160.

"One hundred and sixty..." He trailed off. He grabbed the key, and looked around. "Where the heck is that room..." He trailed off. After walking around the hallway, he eventually found the door and unlocked it, running into the room.

The room was bare as well, save for a TV screen and a digital clock that read 1:29.

Before Kawachi could start thinking of what the heck was really going on now, the digital clock now read 1:30. The TV screen flickered on, revealing Shadow on the screen.

"I'm assuming you just figured out how the signs and keys work." Shadow spoke up, crossing his arms as he continued. "Behind each sign is a key to a room. You can look in each room for a clue to figure out which room exactly is where I am, as well as the rest of the other captives. It's a good thing I didn't bother putting anything important in here; of course you would have been so slow to figure it out."

"I'm not slow!" Kawachi snapped.

Shadow just let out a chuckle, before suddenly pulling two people closer to the screen, pointing a gun at them. Kawachi recognized them both as Yukino and Suwabara. "C'mon, which one is going to die?" Shadow asked, pointing the gun at Suwabara's head once, before pointing it at Yukino. "The one who keeps calling you Baldy and 'third rate,' or...The one who put protein-eating enzymes in your bread dough in the Pantasia Newcomer's match?"

"I knew you did it after all!" Matsushiro exclaimed.

"Shut up!" Yukino snapped back, before being slapped in the face by Shadow.

"You shut up, you hag..." Shadow growled at her, pointing the gun closer to her head. He turned towards Kawachi. "Now, which one is going to die? Tell me, now!"

"Kai!" Monica screamed, trying to break free from her bonds. Kai's eyes widened in horror as he heard her scream and glanced at her to see her panicked face.

_"Yukino."_ Kawachi answered immediately. "Yukino's going to die." Kawachi honestly didn't want anyone to die (even _if _Yukino did hate him), but he didn't want Suwabara to die, either.

Shadow looked extremely confused here. "Why?" Shadow asked after a moment of silence in disbelief. "I was sure that you would choose Suwabara, considering you two never got along."

"Yeah, sure, so we don't get along the greatest." Kawachi started, his hands balling into fists again. "But at least he has pride enough as a bread artisan to never try to cheat! I swear if you decide to shoot him instead, I won't forgive you for that, Shadow!"

"You cockroach!" Yukino screamed, enraged as Shadow pointed his gun at her. "You son of a-"

She fell to the ground, with two bullets in her head. Shadow let go of Suwabara, who made his way towards Monica, who was now crying of relief.

"Your request has been granted." Shadow spoke to Kawachi, a small grin on his face. "Thirty minutes. You _know_ what to do."

The screen went blank again, and Kawachi immediately looked around the room. There wasn't anything else he could find besides the clock and the TV screen (he didn't see anything behind those things), and he left, knowing that he had to go to sign number 2 and get the next key to continue his search.

* * *

**Alive: Meister Kirisaki, Sophie Kirisaki, Shachihoko, Tsukino Azusagawa, Ken Matsushiro, Shigeru Kanmuri, Azuma Kazuma, Ryou Kuroyanagi, Monica Adenauer, Kai Suwabara**

**Dead: Yuiichi Kirisaki, Yukino Azusagawa**


	3. Thanks for the Memories

**_3. Thanks for the Memories_**

"Dang it." Kawachi muttered as he walked out of room 160. "I better keep looking..." Glancing around the hallway, he ran to the arrow sign with the number '2' on it, before ripping the paper sign off the wall. Grabbing the key behind it, he read the number on it, reading "140." He looked left and right, before going left. Room 140 had to be somewhere in that direction.

It didn't take him too long to reach the room, considering he was lot stronger from all that training Tsukino helped him with to get his Solar Gauntlets. He kicked open the door after unlocking it, and looked around carefully.

The room looked like a trashed up lab in one of those sci-fi movies, from whatever sorts of strange liquids splattered on the ground to shredded pieces of paper everywhere. Kawachi even noticed that a clock and a TV screen was in this room as well, but they were untouched by the destruction that lay waste in this space.

"Don't tell me he put TV screens and clocks in every room..." Kawachi trailed off as he carefully made his way to a nearby shelf, avoiding a few puddles of who-knows-what-sort-of-chemicals-they-are. He nearly slipped, accidentally stepping on a stray sheet of paper, but he grabbed a nearby table to regain balance. As soon as he regained his balance completely, he realized whatever he'd grabbed...it made his hand feel somewhat sticky and his hand hurt a bit. Something here just didn't seem right.

Kawachi turned to the right to see that he'd cut his palm on a shard of dry glass. The crimson blood slowly seeped from the wound, dripping down his arm.

"Crap!" Kawachi muttered to himself, before looking around. "There's got to be bandages or a working sink in here..." He ran to the nearest sink, before trying to turn a knob in hopes that water would drip from the faucet. No luck. "Oh, right. It's an old factory. Of course the water wouldn't be available..."

Ignoring his bleeding palm for the moment, he went over to the shelf and pulled out the first thing he saw, which was a small box of bandaids. Opening it, he used the bandaids inside to cover his hand before realizing there was a folded slip of paper in the box, too.

He opened up the slip of paper, before reading it carefully. There was an 'X' overtop of a number, '150.'

"Is this supposed to be a clue?" Kawachi asked himself, sighing as he put it back in his pocket. "Maybe it means room 150 isn't where Shadow is. But then again, it could be where Shadow is, too...Darn it, I hate these sorts of puzzles!" He left the room after a few more moments of searching, and went to arrow sign number 3. The key behind it read '150.'

* * *

"Yukino's gone. Kind of a shame, I hate to admit. But at least Kawachi didn't seperate those two." Shachihoko muttered after a moment of silence, glancing at Kai and Monica. He looked up at Matsushiro. "I didn't know she was behind the whole 'sabotaging Kawachi's dough during the semi-finals match' plan, though."

"She was. A lot of us suspected her from the beginning." Matsushiro replied quietly, before glancing at Meister once. The older man hadn't said a thing since Kuroyanagi broke up the fight between him and Sophie earlier. Meister didn't even seem to want to communicate with anyone, and only glanced at Sophie and their dead father or looked at the floor.

* * *

"What the heck?" Kawachi stared at the key, before looking up at the door of the corresponding room. "Let's just hope this isn't going to be some creepy death trap..." He trailed off.

He kicked open the door, before diving out of the way of the door, hoping that he wasn't going to get torched suddenly or something.

He didn't. Kawachi sighed of relief before throwing one of the first keys across the path of the open doorway. Nothing. _Okay, that's good. No need to worry about getting blow-torched or anything like that as soon as I open the door. Good...Then again, I doubt Shadow would have enough funds to build blow torches and stuff like that if he spent it all on TV screens and cameras and clocks._

He slowly snuck inside the room, looking around. The room was more bare in terms of furniture, but much neater than the messy lab he looked in earlier. He looked under tables, and used a step ladder to get to the higher parts of the shelves. Feeling around for something, hopefully not anything that would hurt him, he felt something. It was metal, and felt somewhat curved. Pulling it off the shelf and sitting on the step ladder, Kawachi looked at it carefully.

It was a mask, and it looked exactly like Meister Kirisaki's own titanium mask, except there were cracks on it. Kawachi turned it around to see a note scribbed on a piece of paper taped to it.

"He will be broken even if you rescue him in time." Kawachi read aloud. "What the heck does this mean?"

Before he could continue his search, the TV screen in the room flickered on as the clock's time changed to 2:00.

* * *

"Time's up for one more person." Shadow spoke, looking at Kawachi on the screen. He grinned a bit, before turning towards his captives. "Eeenie...Meenie...Miney...Moe. Which one of you are going to go?" He chuckled, before grabbing Kanmuri by the collar and dragged him and Kuroyanagi towards the screen, before dropping the two tied captives onto the ground.

_Dang it, it's Kanmuri or Kuroyanagi now!? _Kai thought to himself as he stared at Shadow and the two he had nominated for death. _Kawachi...you better not lose your head when it comes to this..._

"Which one, Kawachi Kyosuke? Kuroyanagi, or Kanmuri? Both are Harvard geniuses, we all know that. One judged the vast majority of the Pantasia Newcomers tournament while the other actually participated in it, against you in the semi-finals if I remember correctly." Shadow paused, smirking a bit as he said the last statement. "That match was when Yukino put those enzymes in your dough so that it couldn't rise."

Kawachi appeared to take a deep breath on the screen, glancing at both Kuroyanagi and Kanmuri. The poor guy seemed completely undecisive, and Shadow looked like he wanted to make Kawachi make a choice.

"You lost against Kanmuri, all because Yukino decided to cheat. And you implied earlier when I killed her that you hated cheaters. But, since Kanmuri allowed such a thing to happen, wouldn't that mean he cheated, too?" Shadow continued.

"Shut up, Shadow." Kuroyanagi finally interrupted him. "Kawachi-just...Don't let Shadow kill Shigeru." He blurted out. "Take me instead. He's got a long life ahead of him, and I don't want him to-" Kuroyanagi appeared to be trying to figure out the words, but that was when Kanmuri cut in.

"Kawachi. Go ahead and let Shadow kill me." Kanmuri spoke up, sounding surprisingly calm for such horrific lines to be heard.

"What!?" Kuroyanagi choked out, before turning towards the younger Harvard Graduate. "Shigeru-"

"Kuroyanagi-senpai. We're both Harvard graduates. We even work at the same work place, now. If there is one difference that can split us apart, it's the fact that you did everything yourself to try to reach your goals." Kanmuri interrupted him as the two made eye contact. "I depended upon others to get where I am, and I'm not proud of it, especially the times during the Newcomers Tournament. I can't do anything on my own, but you can. People like me...Don't really deserve their grand achievements, and even if they do earn them, they won't feel proud of themselves because they depended on others too much to do the work for them."

Shadow let out a sigh. "Enough with the sob story." He muttered before turning towards Kawachi. "Who do you choose?"

Kanmuri made eye contact with Kawachi, and Kuroyanagi knew from the look on his kouhai's face that he was dead serious and seemed to say, _go ahead and choose me to die. I'm fine with it._

Kawachi seemed a bit dumbfounded by what the pink-haired Harvard genius said, but he finally spoke up. "Kanmuri." Kawachi muttered quietly. "I'm sorry..." He trailed off, a bit of sadness in his voice.

"It's okay, Kawachi-san. I'm glad to have worked with you at least for a little while...And the same goes for everyone else." Kanmuri responded, before turning to the others. "Thanks for the memories, all of you guys. I really mean it."

Kuroyanagi seemed shocked at Kanmuri's statements. "Shigeru..." He trailed off in disbelief. "Why?"

Kanmuri gave a small, albeit sad, smile. "Kuroyanagi-senpai." He spoke after a moment of silence between them. "I just want to let you know that I'm glad that I was your kouhai. Thank you."

He fell as a single gunshot echoed in the room. Kuroyanagi fell to his knees, staring at the dead kouhai before grasping the body that slowly got colder in terms of temperature; warm blood dripping from Kanmuri's forehead and staining Kuroyanagi's clothing. The older Harvard graduate didn't care, though, still holding Kanmuri.

"Shigeru...You fool." Kuroyanagi muttered under his breath, praying that Kanmuri could hear his voice, but he knew that Kanmuri would never be able to communicate with him again.

* * *

**Dead: Yuiichi Kirisaki, Yukino Azusagawa, Shigeru Kanmuri**

**Alive: Meister Kirisaki, Sophie Kirisaki, Tsukino Azusagawa, Azuma Kazuma, Ken Matsushiro, Shachihoko, Ryou Kuroyanagi, Kai Suwabara, Monica Adenauer**


	4. Promise

**_4. Promise_**

"Dang it!" Kawachi muttered as soon as the screen went blank. _Dang it, Kanmuri's gone now. Doubt Kuroyan is going to be on any good terms with me, the two were at least good friends in Harvard...And it's going to suck that Kanmuri isn't around. _

Kawachi let a moment of silence pass, thinking of Kanmuri; of how friendly he'd been during the competition and during work. He remembered how much Kanmuri despised Yukino and always called Kuroyanagi with 'senpai' stuck at the end.

He let those feelings pass. He had to keep going, if he was going to save everyone else from Shadow's wrath.

He looked at the cracked mask, re-reading the note. He tore the note off the mask, before exiting the room to get to sign number 4.

* * *

Kuroyanagi finally let go of Kanmuri's cold corpse and let it lie on the floor as he got into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. "He's gone..." Kuroyanagi muttered quietly as he let his somewhat blood-soaked hands go through his hair. "Shigeru..."

No one else dared to speak, unsure if whatever they wanted to say next would make anyone mad or not.

* * *

"Okay, okay...room 174..." Kawachi trailed off as he walked down the hallway. Eventually he reached the room and he got in there right away. Looking around, he knew immediately that the clock and TV screen were in this room, too, just like the previous rooms. But besides that, this room was completely different-and yet so familiar-to Kawachi.

There were newspaper clippings and photos about the Monaco Cup everywhere. There were pictures of all the contestants in the Monaco Cup, from the Egyptian team to the France team to even the Japan team, all bunched on one wall. There were also words, scribbled onto the wall with what looked like black marker. Kawachi read some of the messages and cringed. None of them were positive.

_Why did the semi-retarded baldy win against Shachihoko!? He shouldn't have-IMPOSSIBLE!_

_I lost. I lost against that stupid kid in the pink hairband! Why!? _

_I WISH TEAM JAPAN WOULD DIE!_

Kawachi took a deep breath as his eyes absorbed the notes he saw. "Wow." Kawachi muttered aloud. "Shadow must have...Seriously hated us for winning..." Looking around, he found nothing else that would help him, so he left the room.

Running over to sign 5, he lifted it to reveal a key with the number 149. He headed in the direction of that room and got there, opening the door and looking around.

There were bookshelves everywhere in the room. Kawachi let out a groan, before heading towards the first shelf to investigate.

* * *

"Why has everyone gotten so silent all of a sudden?" Shadow asked, finally breaking the silence. He treaded around the room, seemingly getting closer to everyone before treading away from them. "I thought you would start screaming at me to let you guys out. I'm a bit surprised that you're staying silent. Especially _you_." He ended, looking at Meister in the eye.

"Shut up." Sophie was heard muttering, but Shadow continued.

"You've lost your father, and I _know_ about your mother. You little helpless thing, I thought you would try to go strangle me when I killed your father...He was a bastard, you know, for abandoning you and your lovely little sister. A _bastard_." Shadow ended finally, letting out a dark chuckle.

Meister bit his lower lip, drawing blood without meaning to. The masked man seemed to almost casually lick the blood dripping from his lip before continuing to stare back at Shadow blankly.

"Not going to defend yourself? Fine with me." Shadow muttered, turning his back on the older man. "But I know you will crack, eventually. You can't hide behind that mask forever."

* * *

Kawachi had only gotten to the third shelf in the room when the clock struck 2:30. Shadow's face appeared on the screen, and Kawachi could only let out a deep sigh of sorts. _Dang it. Another one is going to die..._

"Time's up for a third one." Shadow responded, before bringing Azuma and Tsukino closer to the screen. "Which one? The creator of 'Ja-pan?' Or will it be the love child trying her best to become successor of Pantasia?" Tsukino's eyes widened when Shadow mentioned the words 'love child,' and Shadow just smirked. "Yes, missy, I know all about you, too. Don't think I didn't do my research."

"Dang it..." Kawachi trailed off under his breath. _I can't kill one of my friends! Azuma, Tsukino...I don't know..._

"Kawachi." Kawachi looked up as Azuma spoke. "Choose me."

"What!?" Kawachi exclaimed, his eyes widening with horror. "Azuma-"

"We promised that we'd protect Tsukino. Remember, during the Newcomers Tournament?" Azuma responded, smiling a little. "I don't want to break that promise to her. I don't think you want to, either."

"A-Azuma..." Kawachi trailed off. He took a deep breath, before speaking. "Azuma will die." The words felt so bitter on his tongue, but he knew he couldn't do a thing to stop Azuma from that. He knew Azuma would never break a promise. Ever.

One gunshot was all it took for the creator of 'Ja-pan' to hit the floor, dead. Tsukino immediately started sobbing, and Kawachi couldn't help but try to blink away a few tears, either. _I have to stay strong for her, dang it! _He thought quietly as Shadow lazily blew over the barrel of the gun.

"I'm glad you chose him to die." Shadow spoke, grinning. "Now I'm definitely...Number one. The best of the best..."

"You bastard!" Kawachi finally shouted, unable to control himself. "I'm going to find you! And I'll put a stop to this sick game!"

Shadow merely smirked. "Just keep looking, Baldy. Good luck." The screen went blank after that.

* * *

**Dead: Yuiichi Kirisaki, Yukino Azusagawa, Shigeru Kanmuri, Azuma Kazuma**

**Alive: Meister Kirisaki, Sophie Kirisaki, Tsukino Azusagawa, Ken Matsushiro, Kai Suwabara, Monica Adenauer, Shachihoko, Ryou Kuroyanagi**


	5. Not that fragile

**_5. Not that fragile_**

Azuma was gone, now. Kawachi put his head in both his hands, thinking back to when he'd first met him. He remembered when he tried to sabotage Azuma's chances of passing the employee examination; of when they competed in the Newcomers Tournament...

Dang it. Kawachi had to stay strong, he had to! He would do what he and Azuma promised; to protect Tsukino. He had to keep going if he was going to save everyone else still alive from Shadow. He had to.

* * *

"I want to strike a deal with you, Shadow-kun."

Meister had finally spoken up after being so silent for long. The silver-haired psycopath turned towards him.

"What is it?" Shadow snapped slightly at the older man. "Let all of you out?"

"No. It's not that." Meister took a deep breath before saying the following statement. "I wish to request that you keep my sister alive."

"And in return for that?" Shadow asked, this having piqued his interest somehow. Matsushiro had a feeling that he knew what was going to come next, but Meister spoke it, anyway. He spoke the line with a tone everyone knew meant something serious.

"I want you to_ kill_ me if you keep Sophie _alive, _even if the game ends."

* * *

Kawachi was about to leave the room when the TV screen suddenly flickered back on. Kawachi turned to it as soon as he heard Sophie's voice, full of panic.

"Brother, you can't be serious about this! How do you know that he'll keep his word anyway!?" Sophie shouted as the look on her face turned to disbelief.

"I trust that he will." Meister responded firmly, before turning to look at Kawachi through the TV screen. "Kawachi-kun. All of us have been watching you even though you can't see us most of the time, through the cameras in this building. Tell me, what was that little note Shadow gave you attached to one of my old, broken masks?"

"Um..." Kawachi trailed off before taking it out of his pocket. "He will be broken even if you save him in time."

"Me? Broken?" Meister turned to Shadow. "I know I had a little..._Breakdown_ when Father was shot by you. Surely one would find that reasonable, to cry over someone close. I might be wrong here, but let me guess...You were planning on getting Sophie killed so I'd break down emotionally, weren't you? That's why you kept saying things like _'You can't hide behind that mask forever'_ and stuff like that."

Shadow seemed to bite his lip in frustration, and tremble slightly, but merely and reluctantly nodded pnce in response.

"Yes, I would break into tears. But I wouldn't become _that_ emotionally unstable. You underestimated me, Shadow, and underestimating people is what can lead to one's downfall. And besides," Meister continued. "I already know what it's like to lose family, and once you've gone through it once or twice, it's a lot harder to really cry and break down. I'm not that fragile anymore."

Shadow then punched Meister in the face, ignoring the fact that the older man wore a titanium mask. "_Shut your crap_ and say your last words." Shadow snapped, pointing the gun at him.

"Brother-" Sophie started, but Meister just gave her a close-to-blank look. Kawachi, however, noticed that there was something in his eyes, and it was hinting towards some sort of acceptance to his soon-to-be death.

"Sorry, Sophie, that I'm such a selfish big brother trying to protect you."

* * *

As soon as the gunshot rang in the room, Meister fell, the ghost of a smile on his face. Kai lunged forwards and caught him in his arms (the samurai had somehow gotten himself untied earlier), holding and partially cradling him gently. "General Manager..." Kai trailed off quietly.

Sophie, a shocked expression imprinted on her face, balled her hands into fists, as if wanting to punch Shadow, but immediately stopped herself before she made a move. Her brother had done this for her, and her trying to hurt Shadow would probably not be a good idea, and make her more likely for Shadow not to hold his end of the deal.

Kawachi, on-screen, stared at the General Manager. _Did he just...Seriously...He..._

_I guess he really cares about Sophie. He doesn't care if he dies, as long as Sophie is alive, and..._

"Well, since he had to go and strike that deal with me, I guess I won't be killing anymore people until an hour from now." Shadow muttered, turning towards Kawachi. "You go and continue looking for me. You've got one hour." The TV screen turned off, and that was when Kai spoke up.

"...I think General Manger might still be alive."

* * *

**Author note: I was originally planning something else different, but then I realized I was totally making Meister OOC and I needed to change that. Hopefully this was okay...**

**Dead: Yuiichi Kirisaki, Yukino Azusagawa, Shigeru Kanmuri, Azuma Kazuma, Meister Kirisaki?**

**Alive: Kai Suwabara, Sophie Kirisaki, Monica Adenauer, Ken Matsushiro, Tsukino Azusagawa, Shachihoko, Ryou Kuroyanagi, Meister Kirisaki?**


	6. Expressing Feelings

**_6. Expressing Feelings_**

"How can he still be alive!?" Shadow snapped right after Kai had spoken up. "I shot him!"

"But his pulse is still there." Kai responded quietly. "You probably didn't shoot him fatally enough to kill him instantly."

Shadow took out his gun at pointed it at Meister's unconscious form, but then paused and put it away. "Guess he'll just bleed to death, then. No point wasting any bullets; I used too many on the Yukino hag and Yuiichi Kirisaki earlier..." He trailed off.

Sophie's heart seemed to jump a bit at the thought of her brother still being alive. _Brother...Please hold on...Don't lose all your blood, please..._

* * *

Kawachi couldn't believe it. Meister, after breaking down at his father's death, had suddenly bounced back in mere matter of a few hours and had willingly given up his life for Sophie. It was surely an expression of feelings towards his sister; that despite their disagreements about their father, they still were close to each other. They hadn't let the past hang too much over them, and Kawachi was glad for them about it.

But of course, he couldn't waste the precious hour he had to just stand around and think about dead people. He had to save the ones still alive.

He ran out of the room, to the next sign, intent on continuing his search for Shadow.

* * *

Forty-five minutes and ten signs later, things weren't looking so good. Kawachi hadn't gotten any closer, and he only had fifteen minutes until another person would die, and-

Ah, dang it. He didn't even have fifteen minutes left, he only had five.

Kawachi kicked open another door, the number being 132, and he immediately went to the closest shelf to start looking for any clue.

He found a key. It was a black key, unlike the other grey keys that Kawachi had used to open the other doors earlier, but he could read the number. 500.

"Maybe it's the key to where Shadow is." Kawachi muttered aloud, but before he could leave the room, that was when the TV screen in the room flickered on. "Dang it."

* * *

"Time's up for another person." Shadow muttered. "But before I continue, there's a little piece of news you might be interested in. Shortly after I shot Meister here," He gestured to the bleeding, unconscious Meister, "Apparently he's still _alive_." He gritted his teeth at the last word, but composed himself before continuing. "I'll just let him bleed to death, but he will still live if you get to him in time. Be thankful he's not dead yet."

"Who are you choosing now to nominate for me to choose to die?" Kawachi asked slowly, expecting the worse.

_Kai or Monica? Manager and Tsukino? Kanmuri and Kuroyanagi? Sophie or Kai? Any of those?_

Shadow dragged Monica and Shachihoko closer to the screen. "These two. Which one is going to die?"

_...Dang it._

* * *

"Monica..." Kai trailed off, his teeth gritting as he spoke the next line. "Shadow you bastard, get your filthy hands off her!" He shouted. "I would cut you right here and now if I had my katana blade with me!"

"Hey, hold on a second!" Shachihoko exclaimed. Everyone turned to him as he spoke. "I really hate to butt in like this, but this isn't going to get us anywhere. And Monica, you've got Kai, and Kai's got you. It would seriously suck if one of you died, so...I'll go."

"Why-" Monica started, but Shachihoko continued.

"You know, Monica, I hate to admit this now of all times, but I did like you a bit. You know, in the maybe-romantic sense, even if you barely spoke to me during the Monaco Cup." Shachihoko responded, chuckling a little before continuing. "I mean, first off, you're the most attractive girl I've seen. Ever. You've got those perfect curves, and-" Monica glared at him a bit, as well as Kai. "Okay, I'll stop there. But what I liked best about you was that you wanted to achieve your dreams so badly, to get that candy castle. Right? You were really determined at what you did. I like that in people."

Monica's eyes widened a little as Shachihoko spoke. _He liked me and I didn't realize it...Was that why he kept trying to communicate with me during the Monaco Cup, even if Shadow was around?_

"Is the sob story over yet?" Shadow muttered.

"Almost." Shachihoko reassured him, before turning to Monica. "Sorry I had to say this at such a time. Wish I could've told you earlier."

The Nagoya fanatic fell into Monica's arms, a bullet embedded in his head. Monica just stared down at his corpse, terrified, scared to believe that her teammate was actually, truly dead.

* * *

**Dead: Yuiichi Kirisaki, Yukino Azusagawa, Shigeru Kanmuri, Azuma Kazuma, Shachihoko **

**Alive: Kai Suwabara, Monica Adenauer, Sophie Kirisaki, Ken Matsushiro, Ryou Kuroyanagi, Tsukino Azusagawa, Meister Kirisaki**


	7. End

**_7. End_**

Dang it. _Dang it! _Kawachi stormed out of the room, the black key in hand. "Where's room 500?" Kawachi muttered under gritted teeth, looking left and right in the hallway. Not on this floor. At one end of the hallaway, he noticed that there was a door, and on it was the number 500. Running over to it and opening the door, he ran up the stairs revealed behind the door.

_I have to get up there NOW!_

* * *

Shadow pulled the trigger of the gun, only to realize there was a blank. He growled, before taking a bullet out of his pants pocket and putting it in the gun. "Dang it." Sophie heard Shadow mutter. "That Baldy isn't going to win..."

"You were planning to kill him all along!?" Tsukino exclaimed. "That's not fair, you promised you wouldn't!"

"Shut up, brat." Shadow snapped back. "I'm the ruler of this game; I can change the rules if I want to!"

Kawachi burst into the room, and Shadow pointed his gun at him, about to shoot-

When Sophie and Kai both leapt at him simultaneously and began to try to get the gun away from him. "Let go of me!" Shadow shouted, as well as a few swear words. Kai punched him in the face, only to get kicked to the side by the silver-haired psycopath. Sophie and Shadow now both grappled for the gun and-

"No!" Kawachi screamed, but the trigger was pulled.

Blood streamed from Shadow's chest as he fell to the floor. Sophie just stared down at the new corpse, gun still pointed at the dead psycopath, her facial expression looking a bit blank. She spoke two words, before she, Kai and Kawachi proceeded to free the other people.

_"Game over."_

* * *

Kawachi sighed as he, Tsukino, Matsushiro, Kuroyanagi, Kai and Monica stood by Kanmuri, Azuma and Shachihoko's graves. Sophie would have been here, too, to stand by Yuiichi Kirisaki's grave; but she was at the hospital, probably talking to her brother, who got into a somehow-comatose state a month ago.

One month ago. It was only one month ago that Shadow took Kanmuri, Azuma, Yuiichi Kirisaki, Yukino, and Shachihoko's lives, as well as putting Meister into a coma (could it be called a coma?).

Kai put flowers on Shachihoko's grave, looking at it quietly. Monica held his hand in hers, and Kai thought silently to himself. _Shachihoko. Thank you for saving Monica. I won't forget the honorable thing you did for her. _He glanced at the Azuma and Kanmuri's graves as well. _Azuma, you were a strong opponent and I respect your talent. And Kanmuri. I never got the chance to go head-to-head against you, but I respect your work, too, even if you were stuck working for Yukino during the Newcomer's Tournament._

Kuroyanagi felt his cellphone vibrating in his pocket, and he took it out and put it to his ear. "Hello?"'

_"Kuroyanagi..." _Sophie paused for a moment. Kuroyanagi sensed that she was crying.

"What's wrong, Sophie?" Kuroyanagi asked immediately. "Don't tell me Meister died-"

_"No. No, he's not dead. My brother...__" _Sophie once again faltered before finishing. _"According to the doctor, he woke up fifteen minutes before I got here."_

* * *

Sophie put away the cellphone, before walking into her older brother's hospital room.

The last couple times that she saw him, it was obvious that he wasn't awake, and she only had the beep of the other hospital machines counting his pulse to accompany her voice. But now, he was awake, and maybe he could speak with her.

She sat by the hospital bed, and looked down at her older brother. He looked tired, as if he just woke up from a long, dreamless sleep. His mask did not cover his face; as the doctors had removed the mask and put it on a nearby table. Instead, what Sophie saw of his face was pale, tired, but somehow peaceful.

"They told me I got into a coma somehow with Shadow shooting me." He started. "They said I was asleep for a month..."

"More of one month, six hours and thirty-three minutes." Sophie responded quietly. "And yes, I bothered to count, if you're wondering." She extended a hand towards his face and brushed a lock of hair aside, revealing one of his previously hidden light blue eyes.

Her older brother let out a soft chuckle. "I'm surprised I'm not dead." He paused, glancing away from his younger sister for a moment before speaking the next words faintly. "Did...Did anyone else get killed, after I got shot?"

"Shachihoko." Sophie spoke finally after a moment of hesitation. "It turns out the Nagoya fanatic had a crush on Monica during the Monaco Cup, too. It sucks that the time he got to confess it was right before a bullet was in his head."

"I see..." Sylvan paused, before speaking. "I do hope he's better where he is now."

"Same for me." The two were silent for a moment, before Sophie spoke up again. "What was it like while you were unconscious? Did you not realize you were unconscious, or what?"

Sylvan paused to think, before responding quietly. "Well, I felt that I was somewhere...I'm not sure where it was. I couldn't move, and I could barely think. I thought at times that I might wither away, but...I heard a voice." His mouth turned into a small smile as he finished. "It told me not to lose myself, for the sake of you."

Sophie just smiled back at him, and silence fell between them for the next few minutes before everyone else came rushing into the room and started bombarding Meister with questions and words of relief. Nothing else had to be said between the two siblings, because they knew that they didn't have to say anything else.

* * *

**Author note: And this chapter, everyone, concludes the fanfic 'Find Me.' **

**A big thanks goes to Bite the Dust for reviewing this fic! :) This is also the first fanfic I've completed the fastest out of all of the ones I've started so far! XD I'll probably work a bit more on 'Reflections' and 'Yakitate! Cosplay?' as well as 'The Epic Reports of Kawachi Kyosuke,' but expect another new fanfic to come soon! Thanks for reading!**


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